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Zhouyi cantong qi
Chinese Text
Edited by Fabrizio Pregadio
NOTE: This is one of three appendixes found in Fabrizio Pregadio, The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir (Gold-en Elixir Press, 2011).
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This translation of the Cantong qi is based on the text found in Chen Zhixu’s Zhouyi cantong qi zhujie (Com-mentary and Explication of the Cantong qi), composed in ca. 1330. I have used the earliest extant edition, published by the Jinling shufang
(Nanjing Print Shop) in 1484. This edition appears to be extant in a single exemplar, which is kept at the Shanghai Library (Shanghai Tushuguan).
The Shanghai exemplar lacks the portion corresponding to the second half of Chapter XXXIV and the whole Chapter XXXV (in the present translation, the portion going from verse 83:16 to the end of section 88). For the missing portion, I have used a Japanese manuscript dating from the Edo period (1603–1868) kept at the Cabinet Library (Naikaku Bunko) in Tokyo. This manuscript is almost certainly a copy of the “Yifu” edition of Chen Zhixu’s text, which was published in 1552 and belongs to the same textual lineage as the Jinling shufang edition.
The Gujin tushu jicheng edition (first published in 1726), also belongs to the same lineage but includes a large number of errors and is unreliable as a witness of Chen Zhixu’s text. The other main textual branch of Chen Zhixu’s redaction was originated by the Jindan zhengli daquan (first published in 1538). This edition, which contains several errors and readings drawn from other redactions of the Cantong qi, is in turn at the basis of the editions found in the Siku quanshu (1782) and the Daozang jiyao
(ca. 1800, expanded in 1906).
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Chen Zhixu divides the text of the Cantong qi into 35 chapters (zhang ). These divisions are not reported in the present translation. I have, instead, subdivided the text into 88 sections. These subdivi-sions are based on the following criteria, listed in order of importance: (a) Changes in the number of characters in rhymed lines; (b) Major changes of rhyme patterns; (c) Major changes of subject matter. Beyond these criteria, I have not followed any particular model to determine the extent of each section.
I have corrected about three dozen errors found in the Jinling shufang edition. With only four exceptions, these errors are demon-strated by one or more of the following types of evidence: citation of the same word or verse in the commentary; disregard of rhyme patterns; reading of the Edo manuscript; and context of the verse.1 The four exceptions are readings for which no evidence is available, but are very unlikely to be correct. These are the : variant in 26:21; the : variant in 42:6; the : variant in 49:14; and the
: variant in 74:37. In these cases, I have adopted the readings found in other redactions of the Cantong qi and (except for the variant in 42:6, which appears to be Chen Zhixu’s own error) in the other editions of Chen Zhixu’s work that I have seen.
My emendations are listed below. Each line shows the section and verse numbers; the emended sentence; the variant in the Jinling shufang edition; and, where available, the evidence for the emendation.
2:1 : Edo ms.
10:13 : comm.
13:12 : Edo ms.
17:2 : Edo ms.; comm.
17:9 : required by context
22:10 : Edo ms.; comm.
24:12 : Edo ms.; comm.
26:21 :
33:8 : Edo ms.; comm.
34:4 : Edo ms.; req. by rhyme
1 I have emended the Jinling shufang text exclusively on the basis of context in these cases: : (17:9); : (39:12); : (74:8); : (74:27); and : (80:7).
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34:8 : comm.
37:1 : Edo ms.
37:5 : om. Edo ms.
37:18 : Edo ms.
38:28 : Edo ms.; comm.
38:6 : Edo ms.; comm.
39:12 : required by context
40:16 : comm.
42:6 : [See the Textual Notes, p. 240]
42:8 : Edo ms.
47:13 : Edo ms.
49:4 :
49:6 : comm.
49:12 : Edo ms.
64:16 : comm.
72:6 : comm.
74:8 : required by context
74:27 : required by context
74:37 :
76:12 : Edo ms.
77:17 : comm.
80:6 : Edo ms.
80:7 : required by context
82:12 : comm.
The : and the : errors in 13:12 and 17:9 are also found in several editions of the other redactions that I have seen. In verse 24:12, the error is probably due to the accidental repetition of the ho-mophonous word ju , which is found in the same position two verses before (24:10: ). In verse 40:16, the compound word hechi used by Chen Zhixu in his commentary is likely to be a gloss on he , rather than chi .
Finally, I have replaced several variant graphs with the correspond-ing standard forms.
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Fabrizio Pregadio
The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir
Golden Elixir Press, 2011
324 pp., Paperback, US$ 24.95 (list price)
ISBN 978-0-9843082-8-6
Visit the web page
Under an allusive poetical language and thick layers of images and symbols, the Cantong qi hides the exposition of a doctrine that has inspired a large number of works in the tradition of Internal Alchemy (Neidan). The text is concerned with three major subjects: Cosmology (the relation of the cosmos and the human being to the Dao), Taoism (the way of "non-doing"), and Alchemy, and joins them to one another into a single doctrine. In addition to a complete translation of the Cantong qi, this book contains explanations of each of its sections, notes on many of its verses, and a detailed introduction to its history and doctrines.